tire pressure monitoring systems

[glamourpets]

Is anyone here using a tire pressure monitoring system? It seems to me that, with tire blow outs being a common problem, this may be a good preventive measure. Thoughts?

Lawrence RV Accessories Inc

How many blow outs are actually disguised bearing failures? Damaged bearings could cause strain on the tire, and cause a blow out. If this were true, ythe tire pressure would be irrelevant to the tire failure. Thoughts?

[honda03842]

Derek,

I use a Tyre Dog Pressure monitoring system, a relatively inexpensive system. It comes with four sensors that mount on the valve stems. They have worked perfectly for about 30,000 miles.

My car is a 2004 and does not have a built in Tire Pressure Monitoring system. As a result I put two sensors on our Scamp and two on our rear tires. The sensors measure pressure and temperature.

The sensors report the state of the tires to a monitor that mounts on the dash.

As of yet they have not reported any pre=blow out conditions since our Goodyear Marathons have never had a blowout, year 5 and on our second set.

As well every time we stop I walk around and touch each hub and tire.

As we progressed around the country we did see the pressure vary significantly, partially due to temperature. The monitors did encourage us to top off the tires on occasion. As well it's interesting to see how the temperature varies during the day.

I have personally never heard of a bearing failure causing a blowout. I have an infra red temperature sensor and mainly out of curiosity I can take a quick bearing temperature.

Hope this helps

[glamourpets]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Derek,

I use a Tyre Dog Pressure monitoring system, a relatively inexpensive system. It comes with four sensors that mount on the valve stems. They have worked perfectly for about 30,000 miles.

My guess is that the temperature sensor would point you toward any bearing failure type issues. Has anyone actually had bearings go bad while underway? What happened?

Derek

[Byron Kinnaman]

Any thing that mounts on the end of tire stems is a BAD idea. First off the stem has a Schrader valve inside that is designed to improve sealing with pressure. The thing you put on the end opens the Schrader valve, thus defeating it's intended purpose.
Because of the design of the valve stem attempting to seal against the rim of stem requires excessive pressure on the seal, and the air pressure inside the tire instead of helping the seal is now working to create seal failure. I that makes sense.
Another issue is the additional weight on the end of the stem. To prevent cutting the stem where it comes through the wheel a metal stem would needed. You also have a tire balance problem, and your would need to be balanced.

All in all it's much easier and just as effective to check the tire pressure in the morning before towing.

[Darwin Maring]

I've used the stem installed monitoring system for a couple of years with no air loss. It monitors the tires on the camper and the truck. It will alarm should the pressure go down or if there is a sudden change in temp. They sell the system at Camping World however I purchased from a company on the internet for better pricing. I cant remember if they are DOT approved.

Prior to installing this new system I had the mechanical Stem pressure sensors and used them in excess of 5 years with no problems also. The built in seal prevents the air loss.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Darwin Maring

I've used the stem installed monitoring system for a couple of years with no air loss. It monitors the tires on the camper and the truck. It will alarm should the pressure go down or if there is a sudden change in temp. They sell the system at Camping World however I purchased from a company on the internet for better pricing. I cant remember if they are DOT approved.

Prior to installing this new system I had the mechanical Stem pressure sensors and used them in excess of 5 years with no problems also. The built in seal prevents the air loss.

Hey Darwin, How many times has that system alarmed indicating a low tire?

[honda03842]

Our Stem mountrd sensors have not allowed air to escape.

We have received a low pressure system alarm a number of times, usually in the morning when there has been a significant temperature drop. As we progressed from south to north, we added air.

Before I purchased these sensors I was a regular tester of our tire pressures, way less frequently now. My purpose for the sensors is to be forewarned of a blowout, to see if there is some warning charactereistic of tire pressure and temperature. I am still regularly visually check the tires at each stop.

When you read the site there seems to be general concern about tires. Though my tire experience has been excellent, I decided to add an extra level of security.

[john warren]

preventitive maint. and monitoring works and is free.

lube your bearings every spring.
check you tires every trip for preasure,dammage.
stop at the 100 mile mark on every trip and check everything again, only takes a moment.
ever time you step out of your tug, walk around and touch your hubs. that way you know how warm they should be , and can quickly spot a change.
if you stop for awhile,,, check your tires before you head out again.

and the most important part of preventing tire and bearing failure,,,, remember you have to deal with that "your an idiot" look from the wife if you screw up and forget to check your tire preasure, and have a blowout.

[honda03842]

John,

I do all that you suggest however I am willing to spend $100 just to see what's happpening 'live'.

It's similar to the reason I added an Ultra Scan gauge. I'm certain continuously seeing mpg helps get better mileage. Unfortunately my car is too old to directly display that function.

[floyd]

Schrader cores are designed to hold air pressure while providing easy access to check or adjust pressure... nothing more.
A well designed device which is used to visually monitor air pressure can be used with a comparable level of reliability, while adding no more weight than some valve stem caps alone.

Reliance on TPMS can be troublesome since the resultant complacency could easily result in the neglect of visual and tactile checking of tires and other systems. While handy and reassuring they do little to warn of impending catastrophic tire failure.
It is unlikely that impending bearing failure would cause tire failure or vise-versa. Any incident in which both occurred simultaneously would be both extremely rare and coincidental.

[Darwin Maring]

Byron, I respect your opinion concerning this subject. In answering your question:

ave never had them alarm. I check tire and hub temp with an IR thermometer at each stop and I checked the tire pressure after a 5000 mile trip and again after 1 year of installation with no air loss.

The following site gives a 5 star raiting of the system.

TireMinder Tire Pressure Monitoring System - Minder Research Inc TMG400C-4 - Tire Accessories - Camping World

Floyd: The visual monitor gives a pressure and temp readout of each tire. Yo do however have to page through each tire individuality and I do that at each stop. One thing I notice is that the tires on the sunny side are running hotter than the ones on the opposite side so this gives me peace of mind that the temp function is really working.

The cost is a little high but for me it was worth it.

[honda03842]

Our TPMS also shows sunny side versus shade side differential. Ours shows pressure on all four tires simultaneously, pushing a button shows all 4 temps simultaneously.

Tyre dog is limiting in that it only covers the trailer tires and the Honda's rear tires. Cost was around $150.

I wonder if the sensor would catch a blowout. On our motorhome is seems you would sometimes get a bubble, resulting in some level of pressure decrease, maybe not detectable.....

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by floyd

Schrader cores are designed to hold air pressure while providing easy access to check or adjust pressure... nothing more.
A well designed device which is used to visually monitor air pressure can be used with a comparable level of reliability, while adding no more weight than some valve stem caps alone.

Look carefully at a Schrader valve. The higher the gas pressure the tighter the seal. This what you want when dealing with any gas, air or otherwise. In the case where the tightness of the seal is determined by the tightness of threads there's a greater chance of gas leakage. Pneumatics 095.

[Darwin Maring]

The sensors have a locking screw to prevent them from loosing up.

[Mike Magee]

I lost 2 tires last year on my cargo trailer. Now I have a TST 510, and it is working fine.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Mike Magee

I lost 2 tires last year on my cargo trailer. Now I have a TST 510, and it is working fine.

The issue is NOT whether or not they sense a low pressure, that I'm sure there will just fine. It's whether or not they will create a leak and thus the increased need to send low pressure information. Thereby creating the exact situation they're supposed to warn of.
They remind of the toddler that drops his class on the floor on purpose then says "oh oh". It doesn't happen all the time but the possibilities are there.

Any nicks or dings on valve stem end are very likely to cause leakage.

Darwin, my point was that air tries to blow apart the seal around the rim of the valve stem, and the sensor defeats air pressure improving the seal of a Schrader Valve.

I imagine they will work properly much of the time, but I think there's just too much opportunity for the sensors to create the problem they're meant to detect.

Automobiles built 2007 and newer all have tire pressure sensing systems, required by law. There's two major places they put the sensors. One inside the valve stem, between the Schrader Valve and the where the stem enters the rim, or attached to the inside of the wheel. In side the tire is where I would the sensor/sender to be located, not on the valve stem.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

The issue is NOT whether or not they sense a low pressure, that I'm sure there will just fine. It's whether or not they will create a leak and thus the increased need to send low pressure information. Thereby creating the exact situation they're supposed to warn of.
They remind of the toddler that drops his class on the floor on purpose then says "oh oh". It doesn't happen all the time but the possibilities are there.

Any nicks or dings on valve stem end are very likely to cause leakage.

Darwin, my point was that air tries to blow apart the seal around the rim of the valve stem, and the sensor defeats air pressure improving the seal of a Schrader Valve.

I imagine they will work properly much of the time, but I think there's just too much opportunity for the sensors to create the problem they're meant to detect.

Automobiles built 2007 and newer all have tire pressure sensing systems, required by law. There's two major places they put the sensors. One inside the valve stem, between the Schrader Valve and the where the stem enters the rim, or attached to the inside of the wheel. In side the tire is where I would the sensor/sender to be located, not on the valve stem.

I used valve cap monitors on on my "B" rated Marathons and they actually had the effect of holding set pressure longer than without them, even though there was no measureable leak through the schrader cores. I only quit using them when I changed to "C" rated Carlisles due to the pressure change. While I think your concerns have merit, I think they are overblown.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

Automobiles built 2007 and newer all have tire pressure sensing systems, required by law.

That law only applies to cars sold in the US not the law in Canada, although a number of car makers offer them. If the car came with them we are even allowed to disable them. Which if they fail one might want to do as they are not cheap to replace - I had to replace one last month and it cost $135 including labour for just one.

[honda03842]

As Carol suggests in tire sensors can be expensive while valve sensors are inexpensive and are do it yourself devices.

The do it yourself feature is where the potential for leakage comes in with the user failing to tighten the sensor adequately or the user damaging the threads.

I'm sure on our next tow vehicle they'll come in the tire.

One aspect of the sensors that has surprised me is the battery life, over a year now.

Carol was the failure in your tire due to a sensor battery failure? How long had you owned the vehicle?

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Carol was the failure in your tire due to a sensor battery failure? How long had you owned the vehicle?

Nope not battery life failure. It was the result of the vechile being used on a very rough fairly infrequently used road to a remote trailer head - lots of big rocks one had to *very* slowly go over - the sensor is in the valve on mine and it took a hit from a rock which it wasnt happy about. No actual leak happening but the sensor inside was damaged and decided to give false readings.

Another common reason for them to malfunction is rust caused by road salt or at least thats what other owners and my dealer tells me. Common to fail after about 5 years of age if they do a lot time in the winter on salted roads. My car is 5 years old and does spend most of the winter months on roads to salted ski hills but so far I have not experenced the rust issue - it may vary from car maker to car maker as I understand some have plastic caps and others metal - metal is apparently better re the rust issue. Failure to have the cap very tight can reduce its life greatly as well or so my dealer tells me. They can also give you false readings in extream cold weather or at least the ones on mine do/did. I have experenced that as well while working ski races in the interior of rhe province - takes a large number of mles for it to decide the tire is actually ok. When I first purchased the car (it was a US car) the sensors would protest if it simple went to freezing - took 2 trips to the dealer and several phone calls by them to a US dealer (as the same car sold in Canada did not have the sensors so they didnt know how to correct it) for them to come up with a way to get it to stop doing that - now only does it if the weather is real cold in the -30C/-20D range or below. The rust and cold issue and cost are the reasons a lot of folks here in Canada dont bother to replace them if and when they fail. As its the only one I have had to replace so far & it was caused by self inflected damage I decided to replace it - if the others start to go due to rust or age I may rethink it as others have said they are not going to give you a whole lot of warning in the event of a serious fast tire failure anyways.